Newspaper Page Text
KEV. DR. TALMAGE. THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUNDAY SERMON. Subject! "The Iinmc=o?? Cost.' (Preached in London.) ( Text: are bought with a vrice."? |X Cor. vi., 20. f Vnnr friend tnlrAs vnil through his valua Jble house. You examine the arches, the frescoes, the grassplots, the fishponds, the conservatories, the parks of deer, and you say within yourself or you say aloud, "what did all this cost?" You see a costly diamond flashing in an earring:, or you hear a costly Idress rustling across the drawing roam, or you see a high msttlei spin of horses harnessed with silver and gold, and you begin to make an estimate of t is value. I The man who owns a large estate cannot instantly Sell you all it is worth. He says, |"Iwill estimate so much for the house, so much for the furniture, so much for laying out the grounds, so much for the stock, so much for the barn, so much for the equipage?aiding up in all making this aggregate." Well, my friends, I hear so much about our mansion in heaven, about il? turniture and the grand surroundings, that I want to know how much it is all worth, and what has actually been paid for it. I cannot complete in* a month nor a year the magnificent calculation, but before I get throuaru to-day I hope to give you the figures. "Ye are bought with a price." With some friends I went to your Tower to look at the crown jewels. We walked around, caught one glimpse of them, and being m the procession were compelled to pass out. I wish that I could take this audience into the tower of God's mercy and strength that you misht walk around just once, at least, and see the crown jewels of eternity, behold their brilliancy and estimate t.hpir value. "Ye are bought with a (price." Now if you have a large amount of money to pay, you do not pay it all at once, hut you pay it by instalments?so much the the first of "January, so much the first of April, so much the first of July, so much the first of October, nntil th9 entire -amount is paid, and I have to tell this audience that "you have been bought with a Drice," and that that price was paid in different installments. i The first installment paid for the clearance of our souls was the ignominious birth of Christ in Bethlehem. Though we may never be carefully looked after afterward, our advent into the world is carefully guarded. We come into the world amid kindly attentions. Privacy and silence are afforded when God launches an immortal soul into the world. Even the roughest of men know enough to stand back. But I have to tell you that in the village on the side of the hill there was a very bedlam of uproar when Jesus was born. In a village capable oE accommodating only a few hundred people many thousaud people were crowded, and amid hostlers and muleteers and camel drivers yelling at stupid beasts of burden the Messiah appeared. No silence; no privacy. Abetter adapted place hath the eaglet in the eyriehath the whelp in the lion's lair. The exile of heaven lieth down upon straw. The first night out from the palace of heaven spent in an outhouse! One hour after laying aside the robes oi Heaven, areaseu w a. per of coarse linen. One would have supposed that Christ would have made a more gradual descent, coming from heaven first to a hair way world of great magnitude, then to Caesar's palace, then to ? merchant's castle in Galilee, then to a private home ia Bethany, then to a fisherman's hut, and last of ail to a stable. Not It was one leap from the top to the bottom. Let us open the door of the caravansary in Bethlehem and drive away the camels. Press on through the group of idlers and loungers. What, O Mary I no light? "No light," she says, "save that which comes through the door." What, Mary! 710 foo l? ' None." she says, "only that which was brouzht in the sack on the journey." Let the Bethlehem woman who has came ia her* with kindly attentions put back the covering from the babe that we may look upou it. Ixiokl Look! Uncover your head. Lac us kneel. Let all voices be husaed. Son oc Mary I Son of God 1 Child of a day?monarch of eternity 1 In that eye the glance of a God. Omnipotence sheathed in that babe's arm. That voice to be coanged from tho feeble plaint to the tone that snail wake the dead. Hosanna! Hosanna! The second Installment paid for oar soul's clearance was the scene in Quarantania, a mountainous region, full of caravans, where there are to this day panthers and wild beasts of all sorts, so that you must now go there arme l with knife or gun or pistol. It was there that Jesus went to think and to pray, and it was there that this monster of neli?more sly, more terrilic than anytninz that prowled in the country?satan himself, mat Christ. The rose in the cheek of Christ?that PubHun Lectullus.in his letter to the Roman sea ate, ascribe! to Jesus?that rose had scattered its petals. Abstinence from food had thrown Him into emaciation. A long abstinence from food recorded in profane history is that of the crew of the ship Juno; for twenty-three day3 they had nothing to eat. But this sufierer had fasted a month and tea days oefore He broke fast. Hunger must have agonized every tiber of the body and gnawed on the stomach with teeth of death, i The thought of a morsel of bread or meat must have thrilled the body with something like ferocity. Turnout a pack of men hungry as Christ w?3 a-hungertd, and if they l?aa strength, with on9 yea tney would devour you as a lion a kid. It was in that pang of hunger that Jesus was accosted, and satan said, "Now change these stones, which look like bread, into an actual supply of bread." Had the temptation oome to you and me under these circumstances, we would have cried, "Bread it shall be!" and been almost impatient at the time taken for mastication. But Christ with one hand beat back the hunger, and with the other hand beat back the monarch of darkness. Oh, ye tempted ones! Christ \was tempted. We are told that Napoleon Ordered a coat of mail made, but he was not quite certain that it was impenetrable, so he said to the manufacturer of the coat ol' mail. "Put it on now yourself, and let m try it," and with shot after shot fro-n his own pistol theEjiperor found out that it was just what it pretended to be?a good coat of mail Then the man received a large reward. I bless God that the same coat of mail that struck back the weapons of temptacion from the head of Christ we may now all wear; for Jesus comes and says: "I have been tempted, and I know what it is to be tempted. Take this robe that defended ma and wear it for yourselves. I shall se> through all trials and I snail saeyou through ail temptations/' "But," says satan still further to Jesu?, "come and I will show you something worth looking at; and after a half day's journey they came to Jerusalem and to the top of the temple. Just as one mijrht go up in the tower of Antwerp and iook off upon Belgium, so satan brought Christ to tae top of the temple. Some people at a great height feel dizzy, and a strange disposition to jump; so satan comes to Christ in that very crisis. Standing there at the top of tho temple they look off. A magnificent reach of countrv. Grain fields, vineyards, olive groves, forests and streams, cattle in the valley, flocks on the hills and villages and cities and realms. "Now," says satan, "I'll make a bar^aio. Just jump off. I know it is a great way from the top of the temple to the valiev. but if you are divine you can fly. Jump off. It won't hurt you. Angels will catch you. Tour Father will hold yea. Besides, I'll make you a large fortune if you will. I'll give you Asia Miuor, ['11 give you China, I'll give you Ethiopia, I'll give you Italy, Til give you Spain, I'll give you Germ iny, I'll give you all the world." What a temptation it must have bejn! Go to-morrow, mornin* an I get in an altercation with some wretch crawling u;i from agin cellar in the lowest part of your city. "No," you say. "I would not bemean myself by getting into such a contest." men think what the King of heavea and earth endured When He came down and fought the great wretch of hell, and fou?ht him in the wilderness and oa top of the temple. But I bless God that in the triu'nph over temptation Christ gives us the assurance that we too shall triumoh. Having Him*?:f Dee a temptea, He Is a:>:e tj sucsor all tao33 who are tempted. I care not how great the height or how vast tne depth, with Christ within us and Christ beneath us anrl Christ abova us and Christ all arouni us nothing can befall us in the way of harm. Christ Himself having been in the tempeit will deliver all those who put their trust in Bim. Bhssai be His glorious name (braver. The third installment paid for our redemption was the Saviour's sham trial. I call it a sham trial?there ha3 never been anything so iniecent or unfair in any criminal court as was witnessed at the trial of Christ. VVhy, they hustled Him into the courtroom at 2 o'clock in the morning. They gave Him no time for counsel. They gave Him no opportunity for subpoaiaing witnesses. The ruffians who were wandering around through the midnight, of course they saw the arrest and went into the court room. But Jesus's friends were sober men, were respectable men, and at that hour, 2 o'clock in the morning, of course they were at home asleep. Consequently Christ entered the courtroom with the ruffians. Oh, look at Him! No one to speak a word for Him. I lift the lantern until I cin look into His face, and as my heart beat3 in sym pathy for this, the b83t friend the worn ever had. Himself now utterly friendless, an officer of the courtroom comes up and smites Him oa the mouth, and I see the blood stealing from gum and lip. Oh! it was a farce of a trial, lasting only perhaps an hour, and then the judge rises for sentence. Stop! It is against the law to give sentence unless there has been an adjournment of the court between condemnation and sentence: but what cares the judge for the law? "The man has no friends?let Him die," says the judge; and the ruffians outside the rail cry: "Aha! aha! that's what we want. Pass Him out here to us! Away with Him! Awaj with Him!" Oh! I bless God that amid all the injustice that may have been inflicted upon us in this world we have a divine sympathizer. The world cannot lie about you nor abuse you as much as they did Christ, and Jesus stands today in every court-room, in every house, in every store, and says: "Courage! Bv all my hours of maltreatment and abuse, 1 will protect those who are trampled upon." And when Christ forgets that two o'clock morning scsne, and the stroke of the ruffian on the mouto, and the howling of the unwashed crowd, then He will forget you and me in the injustices of life that may te inflicted upon us. Further, 1 remark: The last great installment paid for our releinption was the demise of Christ. Tho world has seen many dark days. Many summers ago there was a very dark day when the sun was eciipsed. The fowl at noonday went to their perch, and wo felt a gloom as we looked at the astronomical wonder. It was a dark day in London when the plague was at its height, and the dead with uncovered facas were taken in ODen carts and dumped in the trenches. It was a dark day when the earth opened and Lisbon sank, but the darkest day since the creation of the world was when the carnage of Calvary was enacted. It was about noon when the curtain began to be drawn. It was not the coming on of a night that soothes and refreshes; it was the swinging of a great gloom all around the heavens. God hung it. As when there is a dead one in the house you bow the shutters or turn the lattice, so God in the afternoon shut the windows of the world. As it is appropriate to throw a black pall upon the coffin as it passes alone, so it was appror>niat-o that, pvarvthin?' snould be somber I that day as the great hearse of the earth rolled on, bearing the corpe of the King. Th9 waves of a man's hatred and of hell's vengeance dash up against the mangled feet, and the hands of sin and pain and torture clutch for His holy heart. Had He not been thoroughly fastened to the cross thev would have torn Him down and tramoled Him with both feet. How the cavalry horses arched their necks and champed their bits, aud reared and snuffed at the blood! Had a Roman officer called out for a light his voice woull not have bjen heard in the tumult; but louder than the clash of spears, and the wailing of womanhood, and the neighing of the chargers, and the bellowing of the crucifiers there came a voice crashing through?loud, clear, overwhelming, terrific. It is the groaning of the dying Son of God! Look! what a scene! Look, world, at what you have done! I litt the covering from the maltreated Christ to let you count the wounds and estimate the cost. Oh, when the nails went through Christ's right hand and through Christ's left hand, that bought both your hands with all their power to work and lift and write! When the nails went through Christ's right foot and Christ's left foot, that bought your feet, with all their power to walk or run or climb. When the thorn went into Christ's temple, that bought yoor brain, with all its power to think and plan. When the soear cleft Christ's side, that i bought your * heart, with all its power to love ana repent and pray. Oh, sinner, come, come back I If a man is in no pain, if he is prospered, if he ia well, and he asks you to come, you take your time and you say: "I cin't come now. I'll come after a while. There is no haste." But if he is in want and trouble you say: "I must go right away. I must go now." To-day Jesus stretches out before you two wounded hands and He begs you to come. Go and you live. Stay away and you die. When the Atlantic cable waa lost, in 1865, do you ramember that the Great Eastern, and tae Mei way, and the Albany went out to find it t Thirtv titles they sank the grapnel two and a half mile: deep in water. After awhile they found the cable and brought it to the surface. No sooner had it been Drought to th9 surface than they lifted a shout of exultalion, but the cable slipped back again into the water and was lost. Then for two weeks more they swept the sea with the grappling hooks, and at last they found the cable, and they brought it up in silence. They fastened it this time. Then, with great ex* citement, they took one end of the cable to the electrician's room to see if there were really any life in it, and when they saw a spark and knew that a message could be sent, then every hat wa3 lifted, and the rockets flew and the guns sounded until all "-""-I" ?*? b-nonr tha wort tuc T033010 WU tuu ?MW> * ?? was done, and the continents were lashed together. Well, my friends. Sabbath after Sabbath Gospel messengers have come searching down for your souls. We have swept the sea with the grappling hook of Christ's Gospel. Again and again we have thought that you were at the surface, and we began to rejoice over your redemption; but at the moment of our gladness you sank back again into the world and back again into sin. To-day we come with this Gospel searching for your soul. We apply the cross of Christ first to see whether there is any nfe left in you, while all around the people stand, looking to see whether the work will be dona ana the angels of God bend down and witness, an i oh! if now we could see only one spark of love and hope and faith, we would send up a shout that would be heard on the battlements of heaven, and two worlds would keep jubiloo because communication is open between Christ and the soul, and your nature that has been sunken iu sin has bean lifted into the light uni the joy of the Gospsl. Evidently the modern muse has fallen into the same sort of error which has deluded the feet of h^r merely mortal sisters, for a recent English poetess proclaims that her muse "Walk* life's muddy ways Barefooted; preaches, sometimes prays. Is modern, Is advance I. has views." With all due respect to the authoress of these line's, we humbly suggest that the best thing that can be done with a muse of this description is to shut her up in a Penitent Females' Refuge; and if she refuses to be penitent enough to belong there, then let her be provided with a padded cell in some religious lunatic asylum, wherein she may be comfortable and may mull over her "views" without troubling anybody. At least one thing Is certain, she should be takt-n up as a vagrant and restrained from ' continuing to walk life's muddy ways barefooted. I ?____ i. oiajilua win uuu uu vtuuiajt without moral and material value if, In the impassible condition of coun; try roads during the next month and more, the farmers and village taxpayers will read rightly a lesson they [ are slow to learn?the necessity of I making good roads in every part of J the country and keeping them in reoair. . . TEMPERANCE. nature's hint to siav. Observe when Mother Earth is dry. She drinks the droppings of the And then the dewy cordial gives To every thirsty plant that lives. The vapors which at evening weep Are beverage to the swelling deep; And when the rosy sun appears He drinks the ocean's ini3ty tears. ?Thomas Mooro. etrong drinu as a tactlr of crime. At a recent funeral of a man who wai killed in Kansas City, Mo., in a saloon riot, the Rev. Dr. Jesse Bowman Young, pastor of the Grand Avenue Church, of that city, in his remarks declared that "by actual count, a. majority of the murder? which had been committed in that community within ten years, had been perpetrated by men imbrutedand maddened by drink.1' The man who committed this murder was himself a drinking member of the police force. Dr. Young took occasion also to read the Mayor and other officials a sharp lecture for the Dlacine of drinkinsr men oh the noliea force. What is true of Kansas City is true in other places where acts of violence are committed. The majority, and a large majority, are perpetrated by those who have been drinking; have all bean incited to the evil deeds by the maddening influence of *l"<ihoL ' HE STOPPED TO THINK. A mechanic who had been in the habit of dropping into a beer saloon twice a day, and spending five ceuts each time for a glass of beer was captivated one day by a new thought. "I am poor," he said to himself, "my family need every cent I can earn; it is growing more and more expensive every year; soon I shall want to educate my children. Ten cents a day for beer! Let me see: that is sixty cents a week! That is thirty-one dollars and fifty cents a year! And it does me no gooj; it may do me harm. Let me see"?and here he took a piece of chalk and solved the problem on a board? "I can buy two barrels of flour, one hundrad pounds of sugar, five pounds of tea, and six bushels of potatoes for that sum." Pausing for a moment, as if to allow the grand idea to take lull possession of himselr, he tlieu exclaimeo: "I will never waste another cent." He never ha?, and ha is to-day a prosperous man. A FATAL ERROR. Dr. N. S. Davis, an ex-President of an International Medical Congress, and for forty years an active practitioner of Chicago, says: "mere IS HO greaioi U1 mum urauuviaiB error existing in the public mind than the belief that the use of fermented and distilled drinks does no harm so long as they do not intoxicate, 'it is not the temperate use, but the abuse of alcoholic drinks that does barm.' is the often-repeated popular phrase tnat embodies the error which Helps to rob more than ICO, 000 persons of troin five to twenty years of life in the United States, throughtue gradual developement of chronic structural disease*, induced by the daily use of Deer, ale, wine or distilled spirits in quantities so moderate as at no time to projuce intoxication. No more true or important remark was made in the noted discussion in the London Pathological Society than the one by Dr. George Harley, that for every drunkard there arj tifty others who suff er from the effects of alcohol in one form and another.'" WHERE LIQUOR COMES FROM. In a survey of the imperial statistic? of the consumption of alcoholic drinks in Germany, Dr. Wm. BoJe says that the production of the raw material manufactured into wine, beer or spirits, occupies about onefifteenth of the cultivated land of. the emDire. On this area of farming land enough rye might be grown to supply 3300 millions or pounds 01 Dreaa more a year w wmy uuo of the fifty millions of people inhabiting Germany, or 330 pounds to an average family of five persons, which is the entire food needed by the family for nearly fifty days, or about oue-eighth more of food than they can enjoy at present. Ona-fourteenth of all the productive forces of Germany is engaged in this pernicious industry. The amount of money spent on drink has been estimated at about *1^0,000,000 a year, or $2.40 to each inhabitant, or $12 to each average family of five, frotessor Schmoller, the economist, says: "Among our working people the conditions of domestic life, of education, of prosperity, of progress or degradation, are all dependent on tbe proportion of income which flows down the father's throat. The whole condition of our lower and middle classes?one may, even without exaggeration, say tha future of the Nation?depends on this question. If it is true that half our paupers become so through drink, it gives us some estimate of the costly burden we tolerate. No other of our vices bears comparison with this." HELLING HIS OWN CHILD FOfc B*ER. A recent number of the London Temperance Chronicle had a striking cartoon, a picture of a father and mother eager for drink accompanied by a little boy whom they were trying to sell for a drinlc of beer, saying: "Give us a pot and you shall have '<*v* " m-n onW wAntan nrnro nhflPffA'1 ?" lunuiauauu nuiuuu <rv* v at one of the London police courts with begging, and thus came out this dreadful fact of their offering to sell a little boy for a pot of beer. The poor child, it is stated, was in a dreadful condition, his head and body was literally covered with cuts, bruises and scars; a shivering, starved, ill treated, uncared for, unloved atom of humanity. The Chronicle, referring to the incident, says: "What a revelation of the power of drink. a father selling his own child for a pot of beer to be ussd as a decoy in robbing the public. Such conduct makes the blood tingle in one's veins that such things should happen in a Christian land. But such is the power of drink that a little child is offered up in sacrifice to satisfy the unholjr desire for more liquor." Thus is furnished in modern times the parallel to the words of the Prophet Joel, "They have sold a girl for wine that they might have drink." In view of sucn awful extremities and such unutterable degradation as the drink habit is thus shown to induce, how fundamentally important the total abstinence movement which teaches the wisdom and duty on the part of all to avoid strong drinlc altogether. Both in this country and in England there is urgent need tor increased and more effective total abstinence propagandists Such shocking cruelty ana inhumanity as this London incident reveals, should be a stimulant to all to enlist heartily and earnestly in the total abstinence crusade. - ? x?.jirjfcka^il;& i\r<vya an u huxao. Australia is said to be the best customer England has for beer. Eight measures relating to temperance have been introduced into the British Parliament during the present session. An excellent scientific temperance education law has just been passed by the Legislature of Nova Scotia. This is the first one for Canada. ) The Gene-wo (III.) Woman's Christian Temperance Union has recently established headquarters and coffee rooms, with a saloon on eitner side and one directly opposite. Miss Mary Allen West has been commissioned by the W. C. T. U. as superintendent of its School of Methods, and is goin; to the Sandwich Islands and Japan to teach and train workers by means of schools held for a few days in each place. Frank Turner, the white proprietor of a "blind tiger," in Lancaster, a loc&l-option town of Kentucky, has been fined in 57? cases, the penalty amounting to $57,700. John Smith, a colored man, who was en- j gaged in the business with Turner, confessed in 1535 cases, or $155,50J worth of fines. * * AM a rjAftn f- Run IflV n ' [ AU oa^man, UlityU., uu a wu.. .M/t M , decided stir was created by the distribution ! at the doors of the prominent churches of folders on which ware printed the names of I all saloonkeepers, with the names oc their I bondsman. This was done by thy Ministerial Association lor the purpose, as stated in the folder, "that all may know with whom they have to deal." The King of Samoa is determined that his subjects shall be sober. The following order is his own proclamation, any breach of which is to bo risited by heavy penalties: "2fo spirituous, vinous or fermented liquors, or intoxicating drinks whatever shad bg sold, given or ofiferei to be bought or bartered by any native Samoau or Pacific Islander resident in S*moa." Mew industries. It Is surprising to learn that the United States contain more than 500,000 almond trees and nearly aa many cocoanut trees, all of which hao r frilifc SABBATH SCHOOL. INTERNATIONAL LESSON FOlt JULY 17. Lesson Text: "The First Christian Cliurcli," Acts ii., 37-47? Golden Text: Act* ii., 4 7?Commentary. 37. "Now when they heard this they word pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, men and bret)> ren, what shall we do?" When the people accused the Spirit-filled apostles with being drunken, Peter arose, ana from Joel ii., 2832; Ps. xvj.;8-ll; II. Sam. vii., 12, 13, and other Scriptures, preached unto them Jesu9 and the resurrection in such power that the results were as described in this lesson. Jesus had said that the Spirit would reprove or convince of sin, righteousness and judgment (John xvi., K-ll), and already on the first day of His coming behold how mightily xio worns ^uai. h., oj. outouserve mat 110 wrought conviction by the word spoken by the prophet?, and as Jesus crucified and risen was therein presented to the people. 38. "Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of siD, and ye shall receive the gift of the floiy Ghost." They had thought Jesus to be a deceiver and impostor; teter proved that by the miracles and wonders which God did by Him and by raising Hiin from the dead Uod had testified that He was indeed Israel's Lord and Christ of whom ail the prophets bad spoken. The one thing, therelore, for the people now to do was to change their minds about Jesus of Nazare'.b, accept Him as their Messiah, confess the same by baptism and thus be forgiven and receive the Spirit that they too might become witnesses unto Him. 29. "For the promise is unto you. and to your children and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Peter again referred to the promise in Joel ii., 2S, which he had already quoted (verse 17), and probably to such pro units as lsa. xnv., a, "i win pour my apirit tijjun thy seed and my blessing upou thine offspring." See also isa. 1, 21. That it is the pleasure of God to bless and save whole households is evident from the stories of Noah, Abram, Lot and Eahab (vJen. vii., 1; xviii., 19; six., 12; Joshua ii,, 18), and also trom such instauces as that iu Acts xvi., 34. 40. "And with many other words did He testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation." Not in His own words, but in the words of the Holy Spirit He must have continued to speak uuto them, for being tilled with the Spirit tuo Spirit would speak through Him according to Math, x., 2u. We can easily imagine Him using such, encouragements as lsa. i., 18; xliii., 25; lv., 3, 4; Ezek. xxxri., 26, and many otners. 41. "Then they that gladly received His word were baptized, ana the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." It is not enough to hear or kuow about Jeaus< we must hear and then believe or receive His wor.i (i. e., Himself, John v., 24; vi., 63). Relieving means receiving (John i., 12), and if we ao not receive Him we cannot be said to believe Him. It is having or not having Him that decides whether we have lite or not (L Joan v., 12). There is nothing saving either in baptism or the communion, but being saved by receiving Him them we confess our death, burial and resurrection witn Him by the rite of baptism, and rejoice in toe communion to chnw forth His aeath "till He come." 42. "And they continued steaaCastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking oi bread and in prayers." These were the outward evidences of the sincerity of their faith in Christ. Through the apostles they were lurther instructed and thus built up and established, and continuing in prayer, and commemorating from time to time His death, tbey rejoiced in Jesus as their Saviour and King, and daily expected His return to restore to Israel the kingdom liii., 21). 43. "And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done oy the apostles." As it is written in Mark xvj., 20, "They went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming tne word with signs following." The signs are mentioned in Mark xvi., 15-id, and 1 do not Know way such signs should not be seen' to this day, for it is nowuere said that thes< signs snould continue uutil a certain time and then cease. We want more whole hearted loyalty to Christ and utter abandonment to Him, that so He by His same Spirit may still worjf in us to His glory. 44* "And all that believed were together ana had all things common." They were now children of one Father, brothers and sisters in one great household of faith; they had a whole heart for Him who had given Himself for them, so having received the Holy Spirit they counted notning their own any more, but rejoiced in ministering to all ot their substance as each had need. See chapter iv. 32, 34. 45. "And sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men, as every man had need." Thus they set their affections on things above and laid up treasure in heaven, walking in the footsteps of Him who thouijt He was rich became poor lor us tnat w< througn His poverty might become rica (Col. iii., 2; Math, vi., 2U: ll. Cor. viii., yj. "And they continuing daily witn on? accord in the tempie, ana breaking breac from house to house, did eat their meat witi gladness and singleness of heart." Tnen was no self seeking and no boasting in man They knew no name but Jesus, and wen completely carried captive by Him. They had not ministered to Him when He was among tbem in the flesh, but they did most earnestly minister to Him now in the parsons of their fellow believers. 47. "Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as could be saved." Such lives and testimony in the power of the Holj Spirit would be the most powerful preach' ing even in our day, but where is it seen' instead of pouring ourselves out for others, is it not largely each one's own inter e3t an( welfare that seems to be uppermost P Ther was no strife in those days as to which ? called church would get the new members for there was but one church, of whicl Jesus Christ wa3 the one head. It is so stil before God, but it f,eems impossible for some to see it. The Lord oprm our eyes.?Lesson Helper. The Floe Lauy s Mmrtor Catechism, What is the whole duty of women: To dress?to sing?to dance?to plaj on the pianoforte?to gabble French, and to preside gracefully at table What is a man? A thing to wait; with?to flirt with?to take one t( the theater?to laugh at?to be mar ried to?to pay ones bills?and tr keep one comfortable! What is life: ?A Polka?a schottische?a dance that one must whirl through as fasl as possible! What is death??H'm? something that it's unfashionable tc think of; so the less that'* said about It the better. Insurance men are departing from their former position that it was no part of their business to concern themselves with methods of buildingconstruction, but only to accept risks from whoever was willing to pay the price. This policy has brought sc many companies to bankruptcy, however, that insurers are now beginning to recognize that the most important element in their business is to secure | the adoption of the safest possible I methods in building. If King Lehanzin, of Dahomey undertakes to curry out his threat t< kill the French or drive them ofT thi Dahomey coast of which they have heh possession some fourteen years untie cession from the king's lute father the world will have an opportuuitj of learning how well the Dahotne; ladies can right against civilizet troops. Of tht.'ir courage and feroeitj there is no doubt; but they will neec something more than these inconflici ; with troops with arms of precision ? RELIGIOUS HEADING. A PRAYRIJ. While I tread life's weary path, Give me faitb. 0 Lord, to sec In tbe trials that iurrounil nie Naught but thee. Give me strength, 0 Lord, to lighten Tbe burdens of the weak around, And to tell the peace to others I have found. "When I reach the valley dark, Give me eyes, O Lord, to see In that awful, awful darkness Hound me?thee. When I touch the gloorry river, Hold me that I cannot sink; Hold me, Lord, that I may see thee On the briuk. Take me to the "many mansions" That thou hast prepared for me; There I would abide forever, Lord, with thee! FROM THIS (iUTTER. Some time about 1870, or earlier, three ministers were walking on a country road, a little north of Aberdeen. It was late at night, and they had been attending a meeting in the country. As they went along they noticed a countryman in a state **f intoxication scrambling on all fours out of the ditch. One of the ministers said, '-I must go and speak to that man." The two others tried to dissuade him, telling him it was of no use. and that he would get nothing but abuse. But the minister said, "The Spirit of God bids me. and I must speak him." By this time the man had got out of the ditch. The minister began to speak to him, whereupon the fellow took off his coat aud wanted to fight him. The minister said, "I can fight, but Dot with your weapons;" and getting down on his knees, he began to pray very earnestly for the man. As he pleaded, God touched the man's heart, and he got down on bis knees beside the minister. By the time the minister had finished his prayer, the drunkard was ready to be spoken with; and he was pointed to a sin-forgiving Saviour. They stopped at the first cottage on the road, aud asked the people if they could lodge the man for the night. AllCT lUUh.iiig ai una iui> vv/t?vi umu "Why, we have just been holding a prayer meeting for that very man. He is my brother. We have had a Hpecial prayer meeting tonight, to ask God lor bis salvation." Five years afterward the minister was gladdened by knowing that the man was still standing a living witness to the power of God, and was being used as a great blessing to others.?[Selected. TITE WAY Tft.VT GOD LOOKS AT SIX. During last summer a Christian lady, who was visiting a seaside place, asked some little children to come to her every Lord's day afternoon to hear about the Lord Jesus. One afternoon she wanted to tell them what God thought about sin, so she took a microscope, and gave them some very small print to look at through it. They all exclaimed, "Hew large the letters seem, and when we look at them without the microscope they are so very small!" So then the lady told them, "That is the way God looks at sin." You see, God thinks sin is very big, while vou and I think it looks very small. We need to look at it through a microscope, as the little children did at the small print, to see how big it really ia, though it looks so small to us. Now, dear children, perhaps you think it is a very little thing to tell a story, or get out of temper, or be disobedient to your parents; but God does not think it a little thing. God thinks it so big that nothing but the blood of Jesus, His own dear Son, could wash it away; and God loved the worl 1 so much, and "the dear little children too. that "He gave His only begotten Son" to die on the Cross, so th?t His prccious blood might wash away all their sins. "don't step tftere.w A man started out for church one icy Sunday morning, and presently came to a place where a little boy was standing, who, with a choking voice, said: "Pleuse don't step there." ' Why not?" "Because I stepped there and fell down," sobbed the little fellow, who had thus taken upon himself to warn the unwary passers-by of the danger into which he had fallen. There are many men in the world who have -rood reason* for giving such a warning as thin. The man who has trod the dark and slippery path of intemperance, as he sees the young learning to take the first i gla*s of spirits, or wine, or beer, has good reasons to sav to tbetn, "Don't step there, for I stepped theie and fell down." you will never find , A perfect preacher. t A community without crinks. An egolist who is not offensive, , A Christian who does not make mistakes. I A church that died from giving too much. v An aristocratic church with much spiritj ual power. A community where the gossip's tongue J does not wag. A j;i:l who has bten mentally helped bj leading :io\cls. A home where the grace of forbearance i! not often needed. A Christian who can do a good job o] i serviug both God and Mammon, i A consistent young Christian who doe; i not ha*---' the respect of his worldly com r pauious.?[Epwor:h Herald. f , a r.KCStPT i.v full. 8 Do you remember the story of Martir j Luther wbeu Sutan came to him. as hi thought, with a Jong black roll of his sins i which truly might make a swaddling bant L for the round world? To the arch enenr i Luther said, "Yes. I must own to them ali i Have you hiiv more?" So the foul tienc went his way and brought another longe roll and Martin Luther said. "Yes, I mus own to them all. Have you any more?' The accuser ef the brethren, being expert a business, soon supplied liim with a furthe f length of charges, till there seemed to be n< end to it. Martin waited till no more wen [ forthcoming, and then he cried, "Have yoi; any more?" "Were not these enough?' Ave. that they were. "But," said Martii ) Luther, "write at the bottom of the whole account,'The blood of Jesus Christ cleans eth us from all sin."' Brethren, this was ? ' receipt in full, stamped in such a manne: ' that even Satan could not question the cor 5 rectness uf it.?[Selected. it is reiresning 10 Know mat me ieaucr o ) the Progressive party In J.ipan is a Preshy j terian elder; another leader is a trustee ii the v.tue church, and his wife an influential cultured. Christian woman; that still an l other prominent .statesman i.< a Prchytoriin ( elder, and another a < 'nngreiratioual deacon elected against a Bu4'lhUt. while four othe i members'of the new House of Hepresenta tives are members of ih? ludepeuden Church. A little lcu\cn leaveneth thi 1 whole lump. I ' t Make your liotn^ the brlg'.-.tc.i platvi 01 earth, if you would cliaria you children t( the high path of virt::e and rectitude and re ' ligion. Do not alwavi tuvn tht liiiuds tin wrong way. i.ot;h<: li^ht. which gold ' or. the tfi-ntiau nnl on the j an.-v. poui > into your dwelling. Do sot ox poet tilt liitli> ftut t.-i l-oon it lo a r'tt.il M^rcfx. 7 1- - ? 1 cratignt a i-rotty snake. ) Ed A. Babcock, of North Stoning ton, Conn., while crossing his rockj 1 farm met an odd and brilliant look r ing snake of a species that was be, iieved to be cxtinet in Connecticut, r and after a lively chase captured it, j It is a little fellow, not half grown, j and is black, except that a broad polden band encircles its neck. Ii r belongs to the gold-bauded racei 1 species, which grow to be ten or tif& teen feet long and are swift aad fe rocious. . ' ' " -r'; I BLAINE'S SUCCESSOR, j General John W. Foster Appointed Secretary of State. The New Cabinet Minister's Long Diplomatic Experience. The President, a few day3 ago, sent to the United States Senate tha name of John W. Foster, of Indiana, to be Secretary of State in succession to James G. Blaine. Soon after the nomination was received by the Senate, on the motion of Mr. Sherman, Chairman o? the Committee on Foreign Relations, an executive session was Held to consider cne nomination, it was at onca contirmad, a most unusual compliment to the nominee, one which has heretofore been extended only to Senators sitting in the body, when nominated to office by the President. The President that same afternoon signed Secretary Foster's commission. Sketch of His Career. The Hon. John W. Foster has been for some years past practising law in Washington. His chief work is in the domain of international law in which he is conceded to be an exoert. He has been three time3 appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary for tae United States in foreign countries, being once accredited to Mexico, again to Russia, and a third time to Spain. Mr. Foster was born in Pike County, Indiana, on March 2, 1836. He was educated in the public schools of the State, an4 afterward went through the State University of Indiana, where he graduated in 1955. Then Mr. Foster studied law at Harvard University, and returning home began the practice of his profession at Evansvifle. He had already made his mark among the young lawyers of Indiana when the Civil War broke out. He at once volunteered for service and was appointed Major of the Twenty-fifth Indiana Infantry Volunteers. After, seeing some hard fighting he rose to the full rank of Colonel. In General Burnside's expedition to East Tennessee Colonel Foster headed a brigade of cavalrv. and was the first to occupy ... J 3 KnoxvUle in is do. ai me euu ut wo nm uo was a Brigadier-General by brevet. His chief services during the war were with the Western army of Grant and Sherman. After General Foster settled down to civil life again he edited the Evansville Daily Journal. In 1809 he wa3 made postmaster of that city. His first prominent political office was the Chairmanship of tne Republican State Committee of Indiana in 1872. In 1873 General Foster wa3 appointe i by President Grant to be Minister to Mexico. At the expiration of General Grant's term of office Mr. Haye3 reappointed him. General Foster went to Russia as Minister in 1880, and held that office until late in the year 1881, when he resigned and came home, owing to the pressure of urgent private business. In 1883 General Foster was appointed Minister for the third time, on this occasion being sent to Spain. This nomination was made by President Arthur at the desire of Secretary Frelinghuysen, who wished to avail himself of General Foster's knowledge of international law to negotiate a treaty with Spain involving many delicate points about naturalization. Since his return from Spain General Foster has resumod his prao tice in Washington. flFTY-SEOQND C0N&RE33, In the Senate. 118th Day.?The conference report on the Military Academy bill was presented and agreed to Then the bill for the free coinage of gold and silver was taken up and discussed for the remainder of the day. 119th Day.?The Niciragui Canal was discussed The Agricultural Appropria1 tion bill was also considered. 120th Day.?The Legislative and Judicial Appropriation bill was considered. , 121st Day.?Mr. Hale sDoke on the tariil question, and was answered by Mr. Vest? The Agricultural Appropriation bill was passed. 122d Day.?The Legislative Appropriation bill, after the adoption of several amendments, was passed and sent to the House for conference The Fostoffice Appropriation bill was passed? The Invalid Pension bill, after a debate on the several amendments, was passed^?A bill for the relief of certain settlers on lands in North and South Dakota was passed The nomination of General John vV. Foster to be Secretary of State was confirmed. 143d Day.?Concurrence in several conference reports was refused. In the House. 137th Dat.?The Hou3e then went into Committee of the Whole (.Mr. Lanham, oI Texas, in the chair) on the General Deficiency bill, and the entire session was consumed in the consideration thereof. 138th Dat.?The House met at 11 o'clock, but adjourned immediately without transacting any business. No quorum was present. 139th Dat.?The House was in session only tea minutes and then adjourned without action. 14(h h Dat.?The House was in session just r three minutes, Mr. Matson making the point ? of no quorum. j 141st Dat.?The General Deficiency Appropriation bill was passed Mr. Oates ref ported from the Judiciary Committee the Committee the Bankruptcy bill??The } House refused to accipt the conferencj renorc on tho Military Academy bill, and in structed the new conferrees to insist upon an amendment appropriating $15,000 tor an electric light plant Mr. Geissenhainer reported the Revenue Cutter Transfer bill?Inability to command a quorum ' resulted in early adjournment. - 14"2d Day.?It was soldiers' day, the Comi mittae on Invalid Pensions having the floor. ] Bills were passed to pension army nurses f now without means of support who wrvecl for six months in caring for and nursing the J sick and wounded; to provide a pension of r J50 a month for non-specitic disabilities, and t to remove the disability of those who parti ' cipated in the Civil War, and who have t since enlisted in the navy or army of th< r United States and become "disabled. 0 i The Famous Blarney Stone. Five miles west of the city of Cork, . Ireland, in a little valley where twc streams meet, stands the little village ol 1 Blarney. The fame of Blarney is world[ wide. It has a castle, and in the wall5 of the castle the famous "Blarnej Stone " is set. j The stone is a part of the solic masonry, is fifty feet from the ground, i and about twenty feet below the pro . jecting roof of the building. To kiss the blarney stone is supposec 1 to endow one with captivating witchery r of manner, to loosen his or her tougu< -- of the conversatici 3U tUUU bUb n?w?.. l will bo one solid stream of honejec words. The situation of this talisman is sucl J that the kissing of it is rather a danger 1 ous feat, it being necessary to let thi votary down over the walls by means o I ropes. On the top of the castle there i r a scone which many claim is the 44tru< 1 Blarney" because the feat of kissing i more easily accomplished. This spurious stone has been in it present situation only seveuty years; thi true blarney, mentioned as being set ii ' the wall, bears the date of the buildio< of the ca-tle, which is 14-10. louug inuii, uci .Jinmra. The average mortality of unmarrlei men between the ages o! 20 and 25 1 , 1,174 in every 100,000, while that q I ru>n is ouly 597. 1 why is a~young" man courting t girl like a suicide? Because he's Iiei " fellow d'er see? The point of thi: ' Joke has been brought a long distauce, aud is tired. ? - .j ... V. OEDS OF WISDOM. Love is a great care. Love needs no messenger to say it'? come. _ ') *T" Gratitute is the soil on which joy thrives. Jv! Nothing is difficult; it is only we who are indolent. Fortune has rarely condescendcd to be the companion of genius. The great end of all human industry is the attainment of happiness. TT? ia tnVtA ^aoi'poa alnrava f/| JO.O 10 ? UIJ guuu -WW- j" ? bear the inspection of good men. There is always room for a man of force, and he makes room for many. Happiness does away with uglinew, and even makes the beauty of beauty. ,:*! Our domestic affections are the mo?t salutary basis of all good government. Ignorance, in the midst of the rennements of society, is the most hateful of all mixtures. Individuality is everywhere to bo spared and respected as the root ot everything good. No man has come to true greatness! who has not felt in some degree that hi*' life belongs to his race. A rich man is an honest man, thanks to him, for he would be a double, knave to cheat mankind when he had) no need of it. It is a shameful and unseemly thing to think one thing and to speak another, but how odious to write one thing and [ ctUQK anotner. , ^ A gentleman is one who understands, and shows every mark of deference to the claims of self-love in others, and exacts it in return from them. < iM First Things. Tinware was first made in this country in the town of Kensington, now Berlin,( Conn., which became lamous at a very early day for its manufactures in that! line, says a writer in the House Furnish-i ing Review. About 1740 an Irishman* named Edward or William Patterson,j settled in that place, and being a tinsmith by trade, introduced the industry and began taking apprentices. For years he and others peddled tinware in baskets, carried by hand and then on. horses. Later wagons with one, two and even four horses were employed for thi? purpose. The trade finally extended all over the land and formed the first of these industries which have made Berlin so widely known. After tinware waa introduced tho manufacture of brass bo-! came extensive in that town, especially1 nf oloi'rrVl Kollfl Thftn fnllflWPfl luu rnaaxug vt u w*w#. .? brass and iroa and harness buckles. As a matter of course all these articles wera produced by band, but now machineryproduces immense quantities that fiud a sale in all parts of the world. Curn poppers owe their origin to the inventive genius of a New Hampshire man named Francis P. Knowlton, who in 1857 made the first popper in existence. He used wire netting, cutting tha various parts of the lequired shape and sewing them together with small wire.. Thinking he saw a field of usefulness for, his invention he made several and took them to a store in Concord, where he expected he would be able to introduce to public notice a useful utensil and afc the same time improve his financial condition. The venture proved to be very; unsuccessful, the proprietor at the store' ridiculing his production and refusing to have anything to do with it. Unwilling to be thus thwarted he proposed leaving the poppers to be sold on commission, and was told that he might do so with one or two if he would pay storage. This he was unable to agree to, and. he took them back to Hopkinton, little thinking that in a comparatively! short time they would be found in almost "--t J 1 A ? fi. u every new rjagmuu uumc. ao ?? ? caa be ascertained this invention waa never patented. The original popper is now in the possession of the Antiquarian Society at Contocook, N. H. In 184S the first bird cages were manufactured in the United States. Previous to this they were imported from Germany. G. Gunther was the first to make them in this country, in New York City. There are to-day nine manfacturerers of bird cages in the United States. Of lata years the prices of these articles have been so cut that the profits are so limited that in some cases the cages are sold below the cost of production. No Bice in Bice Paper. Rice paper is not made from rice; nor from rice stalks, noi has it any connection whatever with rice. It is of Chinese manufacture, and is made from the pith of a certain tree resembling the elder. The pith is extracted from the tree in large cylindrical masses, and with largo , knives the Chinese pare off the cylinder, [ till, instead of a cylindrical form, they | have a large flat sheet. This is pressed and other sheets added, until the required . thickness is secured. The paper is then i rudely sized, and is ready to use. It was 3 called rice paper under the supposition, when it was first introduced into Europe, that it was made from rick stalks, and the name has never been changed.?New i York Journal. i i. Killing Caterpillars by Electricity. , Electricity has many ramifications. r The latest is the suggestion that cater *? ~f 1 \ fe* m?7 piaars, tuose pesus ui wuuuj [ be prevented by a current of elecricity from doing further mischief. The beat [ of it is, the "dead shot" is touched off by the caterpillar himself. The scheme is 1 simply to run alternate wires of copper j and zinc around the trunk of the tree, at , a distance of about half an inch apart. [ When the caterpillar starts in his ascent j he strikes the copper wire, poses hib littla nose over it, and continues. Half an j inch further up his forward feet strike the zinc wire, while his body is still ia contact with the copper, and immediatej ly there is an electric current through hia body.?Boston Journal. o s Where the First Pipe Was Smoked. Sir Walter Raleigh's Irish home ia 3 County Cork, became the property of tho * t-. ir v,?a a late air joun rope hcuuumj, an* *?<?* 1 been pat up at auction recently. 4'It J was here," says the London Telegraph, "that Elizabeth's famous courtier smoked the first pipe of tobacco in Ireland, and , received an unexpected bath from a faithful servant-maid, who, on seeing '2 the blue smoke emerging from her master's mouth and curling around his head, thought Sir Walter was falling & i victim to spontaneous combustion, acid r threw a pail of cold water over him to 5 extinguish the conflagration.?Boston i Transcript. S